The following section is presented for informational purposes only, and should not be considered as an admission that any of the material found in this section is prior art to the present application.
In various applications, it is advantageous to apply conservation systems and methods to the operation of an electrical power distribution system. For example, conservation voltage reduction (CVR) is a reduction of energy consumption resulting from a reduction of feeder voltage. Some implementations of CVR schemes contain one or both of two fundamental components: reactive power compensation and voltage optimization. Reactive power compensation may be achieved through the operation of shunt capacitors in order to maintain the power factor at the substation transformer within a prescribed band. Voltage optimization may be achieved through the operation of substation voltage regulators in order to regulate the voltage at specific End of Line (EOL) points within a prescribed range. In this way the peak load is reduced and the overall energy consumption is reduced.
In some embodiments, CVR operates by saving electrical energy by operating electric distribution systems at voltages in the lower portions of a range of allowable levels, thereby improving the efficiency of many electric utilization devices. Many if not all utilization devices operate more efficiently in the lower portion of their designed voltage range. If those devices, motors, drives, electronic power supplies, transformers, lighting systems, etc. are applied properly, that is if they are not undersized for their application, virtually all will operate more efficiently. Conservation Voltage Regulation Factor (CVRf) is a measure of energy conservation when voltage optimization is implemented. CVRf=ΔE %/ΔV % where ΔE % is the percent of energy reduced and ΔV % is the percent voltage reduction.
Another conservation technique is volt/VAR optimization (VVO). VVO may be implemented in “smart grid” systems, where information regarding the electrical power distribution system (e.g., acquired using an automated metering infrastructure) is processed and used to control, e.g., capacitor banks and voltage regulation in a coordinated manner to provide optimal voltage and reactive power usage.
Exemplary CVR and VVO systems are available under the AdaptiVolt™ product line from Utilidata, Inc.